Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Plans $0.75 Quarterly Dividend

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Garmin has raised its dividend by an average of 4.4% annually over the last three years. Garmin has a payout ratio of 35.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Garmin to earn $7.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.6%.

Garmin Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $213.48 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $216.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.15. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $41.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GRMN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Garmin stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 31.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of wireless devices worldwide. Its Fitness segment offers running and multi-sport watches; cycling products; smartwatch devices; scales and monitors; and fitness accessories. This segment also provides Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect Mobile, which are web and mobile platforms where users can track and analyze their fitness, activities and workouts, and wellness data; and Connect IQ, an application development platform.